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Herald’s Green Workshop
By Harry Arabian
Now that Herald was retired, the clock no longer dictated his days. Instead, he woke each morning to the quiet hum of possibilities. Retirement hadn’t slowed him—it had freed him. Finally, he had all the time in the world to work on his passion: designing environmentally friendly gadgets.
Some days, he tinkered with his own inventions—clever little devices meant to sip, not gulp, the Earth’s resources. Other days, he took the wild sketches and hopeful dreams of other “green dreamers” and brought them to life, transforming ideas into tangible prototypes.
His pride and joy was the home lab in his basement, a space that looked more like a cross between a high-tech workshop and an inventor’s sanctuary. Against one wall stood his state-of-the-art electronics bench, lined with neatly arranged tools, each one ready for action. In another corner, his 3D printer waited, ready to convert digital designs into physical models. In the center of the room, a small circular table served as the beating heart of brainstorming sessions, while a tall whiteboard nearby was covered with diagrams, notes, and arrows—an ever-changing map of creativity.
It was here, on Monday, September 6, that Herald sat hunched over his laptop, testing the newest feature for his solar-powered wireless Smart Irrigation Controller. Designed to reduce water usage for gardens, the controller had recently been upgraded with motion detectors to keep rabbits from feasting on his fall cabbage crop. To make the deterrent more active, he’d paired the sensors with a wireless toy car, rigged to roll out whenever the system picked up unwanted movement.
But that morning, the test wasn’t going smoothly. The irrigation dashboard on his laptop flickered with inconsistent readings, and the toy car’s range seemed frustratingly short. Herald sighed, rubbed his temples, and finally decided to step outside to see what was going on.
The moment he opened the back door, a curious scene greeted him. Under the shade of his grapevine stood Sam Morris—his neighbor from two houses down—happily plucking fresh berries off the vine. In his free hand, Sam held the missing toy car as though it were a prize he’d just unearthed.
Sam looked up, grinning. “Hey, Herald! This little thing yours? I think it was trying to chase me out of your yard—or maybe it just wanted to join me for grapes.”
Herald blinked, caught between irritation and laughter. “Sam… you’ve just met my new cabbage security system.”
Sam chuckled, popping another grape into his mouth. “Well, it found me before it found the rabbits. Not a bad start.”
Herald couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe this invention still required some fine-tuning—but for now it was already keeping the neighbors entertained.
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